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NATURAL. EQUALITY 



A SERMON 



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BEFORE THE 



VERMONT COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 



AT MONTPELIER, OCTOBER 17, 1833. 



BY JOSEPH TRACY. 




CHRONICLE PRESS, WINDSOR, VT. 
HDCCCXXXIII. 



AT the Annual Meeting of the Vermont Colonization Society, held at 
Montpelier, October 17, 1833, 

Voted, — That the thanks of this meeting be presented to the Rev. Joseph 
Tracy for his sermon, and that he be requested to furnish a copy for tlie 
press. 

C. Wright, Secretary. 



SERMON 



Acts, 17 : 26, 27. — And hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to 
dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before 
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the 
Lord. 

That is ; God has given to all men the same nature, that 
they may all receive and enjoy the benefits of the same gos- 
pel. These benefits are, spiritual, consisting in the eternal 
salvation of the soul from wickedness and misery ; and tem- 
poral, consisting in the enjoyments which belong to a truly 
religious citizen of a free, Christian community ; such a com- 
munity as the principles of the gospel tend to form. The 
text, then, in its connexion, brings to view the fundamental 
doctrine of our Declaration of Independence — that " all 
men are created equal ; endowed by their Creator with cer- 
tain unalienable rights, among which are hfe, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness." 

As the doctrine of the existence of God lies at the foun- 
dation of all that is valuable in morals, yet, when misunder- 
stood and misapplied, is the main instrument of inflicting 
upon the world all the evils of superstition, fanaticism and 
religious tyranny ; so this doctrine of natural equality lies at 
the foundation of all that is valuable in the political rela- 
tions of men, — and yet. when misunderstood and misappli- 
ed, is the most powerful of all political doctrines in the de- 
struction of good and the production of evil. As we are 
met to bear our part in alleviating some of the evils which 
flow from an outrageous violation of this principle, it can- 
not be deemed inappropriate to consider some of its possi- 



ble and of its actual applications, both for the benefit and 
for the injury of the human race ; for unless we understand 
the principle which has been violated, we may not under- 
stand the remedy. 

And first, of its misapplications. I will quote to you, from 
a scientific expositor of the doctrine, as held early in the 
French Revolution. I quote from a work, " publisiied for 
the first time in 1793, under the title of The French Citi- 
zen's Catechism ; — intended for a national work." The au- 
thor says, 

Here is the primordial basis, the physical origin of all justice and 
all right. 

Whatever be the active power, the moving cause that governs 
the universe, since it has given to all men the same organs, the 
same sensations, and the same wants, it has thereby declared that 
it has given to all the same right to the use of its treasures, and that 
all men are equal in the order of nature. 

Secondly, since this power has given to each tpan the necessary 
means of preserving his own existence, it is evident that it has con- 
stituted them all independent one of another ; that it has created 
them free ; that each is absolute proprietor of his own person. 

Equality and liberty are therefore two essential attributes of 
man ; two laws of the Divinity, constitutional and unchangeable, 
like the physical properties of matter. 

Now, every individual being absolute master of his own person, 
it follows that a free and full consent is a condition indispensable 
to all contracts and all engagements. 

Again, since each individual is equal to another, it follows that 
the balance of what is received and what is given should be strictly 
in equilibrium ; so that the idea of liberty necessarily imports that 
of justice, the daughter of equality. 

Equality and liberty are therefore the physical and unalterable 
basis of every union of men in society, and consequently the ne- 
cessary and generating principle of every law and of every system 
of regular government.* 

Let us inquire what use has been made of the principles 
here laid down. One principle is, that " the Cause that 
governs the universe has given to all, the same right to the 
use of its Treasures."' I am unable, from the want of suit- 
able documents, to show how much inlluencc this doctrine 
had on the numerous sweeping confiscations of the property 

"Volncy's Ruins. Chap. 17. 



of the rich, which took place during the French Revolution ; 
but I will read to you a few words of a kindred spirit in 
England. He asks, 

What is the criterion that must determine whether this or that 
substance, capable of contributing to the benefit of a human being, 
ouo-ht to be considered as your property or mine ? To this question 
there can be but one answer — Justice, Let us then recur to the 
principles of justice. To whom does any article of property, sup- 
pose a loaf oif bread, justly belong ? To him who most wants it, or 
to whom the possession of it will be most beneficial. — If justice 
have any meaning, nothing can be more unjust than for one man to 
possess superfluities, while there is a human being in existence that 
is not adequately supplied with them. — If religion had spoken out, 
and toid us that it was just that all men should receive the sup- 
ply of their wants, we should presently have been led to suspect 
that a gratuitous distribution to be made by the rich was a very in- 
direct and ineffectual way of arriving at this object. The princi- 
pal object which it seems to propose is, to place this supply in the 
disposal of a few, enabling them to make a show of generosity with 
what is not truly their own, and to purchase the gratitude of the 
poor by the payment of a debt.* 

In this country it has been argued, " that the world be- 
longs to all men equally, and labor belongs to those who 
perform it, are conclusions as inevitable, as that a man's 
right hand is his own."f And on these grounds, a conven- 
tion was proposed and publicly urged in the State of New 
York, in the year 1830, which should order, 

An immediate abolition of all debts. 

An inventory of all real and personal property within the state. 

A census of all the inhabitants, white or black. 

An equal division of all the property, real and personal, among 
such citizens indiscriminately, as have arrived at the age of eighteen, 
without regard to color. 

An apportionment of a full share to every citizen, as he shall 
hereafter arrive at the age of eighteen. 

The abolition of all interest on money, and the right of making 
wills.:)^ 

Do you say, there is no danger that men will reason thus } 

*Godwin's Political Justice. Book 8. chap. 1. 

tFree Enquirer, Vol. 4. p. 263. 

tThe "Friend of Equal Rights," for April 24, 1830, as quoted in the Free 
Enquirer, Vol. 2. p. 393. 



6 

I answer, men have reasoned thus, and been very confident 
in their reasonings. They have published them, with the 
intention of inducing nations to adopt them. The party, 
from one of whose organs the last extract was taken, pro- ' 
fessed to have 20,000 followers in the city of New York 
alone, and nominated its candidate for the presidency of the 
United States. 

The rights of property being thus reasoned away from us, 
let us see what is to become of civil government. We are 
told, secondly, that the Divinity has "constituted" men "all 
independent one of another ; that it has created them free ; 
that no man is subject to another ; that each is absolute pro- 
prietor of his own person." Now I ask, how shall govern- 
ment over such " independent" beings begin to exist ? By 
the voice of the majority ? The majority may agree together 
as to what they themselves will do ; but where do they get 
their right to control the minority, who are " constituted in- 
dependent" of them, and are "absolute proprietors of their 
own persons?" The author of this system counts no form 
of society perfect, except one " according to which each 
one, uniting with the whole, shall yet obey himself only, 
and remain as free as before."* On this principle, it is plain, 
there can be no government at all. The logical inference 
is clearly stated by the English writer already quoted. He 
says, 

That coercion of a municipal kind can in no case be the duty of 
the community. — Coercion can, at no time, either permanently or 
provisionally, make part of any political system that is built upon 
reason. — Punishment — at least so far as relates to the individual, is 
injustice. The infliction of stripes upon my body can throw no new 
light upon the question between us.f 

Here criminal jurisprudence is annihilated at a blow. 
Every commitment to the state prison, we are taught, is an 
act of " injustice." Its walls ought at once to be treated as 
those of the Bastile have been. 

But what then ? Shall we submit to all the violence which 
the wicked see fit to inflict upon us ? This would be intoler- 
able. Hear our author further. 



*Ro8spau, Du Contnit Social, Liv. ler. chap. G. In The Friend, by S. 
T- Coleridge, p. Uil to 17:5, Burlington edition, the metaphysical errors of 
tliis system arc ably exposed. 

I Godwin's Political Justice. Book 7. chap. 5. 



But as long as nations shall be so far mistaken as to endure a 
complex government and an extensive territory, coercion will be in- 
dispensably necessary to general security. It is therefore the du- 
ty of individuals to take an active share upon the occasion, in so 
much coercion, and in such parts of the existing system, as shall be 
sufficient to prevent the inroad of universal violence and tumult.* 

Here we have what our author calls " the abolition of 
law ;" and we have, as its substitute, the application of force, 
at the caprice of " individuals." If these individuals amount 
to a majority, they can, while they avoid all use of " coer- 
cion" and infliction of " punishment," impose upon the re- 
fractory such " restraint" as they deem necessary, by the 
use of the cannon or the guillotine. True, this is a viola- 
tion of their principles ; but they are forced to violate their 
principles in order to maintain them ; and in the violation 
they know no "law," for "law" is " abolished. "| 

But we have not done yet. Listen to another extract. 

Are not all women " endowed with certain unalienable rights, 
among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ?" Are 
not governments (both matrimonial and legal) " instituted among 
men to secure these rights .'" Do not marriages, as well as gov- 
ernments, " derive their just powers from the consent" of the con- 
tracting parties ? " Whenever any" marriage, (be it of a king to 
his subjects or a husband to his wife) " becomes destructive of these 
ends," is it not right that it should be dissolved ?J 

You easily see how, on this ground, a claim might be ad- 
vanced for women to vote at elections, and to hold every 
kind of civil and even military office, just as men do ; and 
on this ground, " the monopoly of legal authority" by men 
has actually been made a subject of complaint in this coun- 
try.^ But let that pass. Hear another extract about mar- 



riage. 



Marriage is an affair of property, and the worst of all properties. 
So long as I seek to engross one woman to myself, and to prohibit 
my neighbor from proving- his superior desert and reaping the fruits 

^Godwin's Political Justice. Book 7. chap. .5. 

tMuch deep and close thinking, and much practical wisdom on tliis sub- 
ject, mmgled with some undue partiahty for monarchy, may be found in the 
third and fourth volumes of Burke's Works. Boston, 1826. 

tFree Enquirer, Vol. 4. p. 141. 

§Ib. Vol. 1. p. 117. 



8 

of it, I am guilty of the most odious of all monopolies. — The abo- 
lition of marriage -will be attended with no evils.* 

This theory has not always remained a mere theory. The 
Frcncli Constituent Assembly of 1789 commenced the work 
of altering the laws on this subject- " Succeeding assem- 
blies went the full length of the principle, and gave a li- 
cense to divorce at the mere pleasure of either party, and at 
one month's notice." The reason they assigned was, ''' that 
women had been too long under the tyranny of parents and 
husbands."! 

This was not the mere work of caprice, or the outburst- 
ing of brutal passion. It was an unavoidable inference from 
the Jacobinical doctrine of the Rights of Man. They must 
give up their fundamental principles, or come to this conclu- 
sion ; and to another conclusion too. Hear it from Godwin. 

It cannot be definitively affirmed whether it will be known, 
in such a state of society, who is the father of each individual 
child. But it may be affirmed that such knowledge will be of no 
importance. It is aristocracy, self-love and family pride that teach 
us to set a value upon it at present. I ought to prefer no human be- 
ing to another, because tliat being is my father, my wife, or my son, 
but because, for reasons which equally appeal to all understandings, 
that being is entitled to preference. — It will then be thought uo 
more legitimate to make boys slaves, than to make men so.J 

And why should it not be so ? Have not children, as well 
as women, " certain unalienable rights, among which are 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?" 

Further extracts, in abundance, are at hand, but I will not 
use them. Enough has been said, to showtiiat the doctrine 
of the natural equality of men may be so misunderstood 
and misapplied, as to upturn all government whatever, 
whether of nations, states, or families, and to teach us that 
reasoning is not always to be esteemed sound, because it 
appears, at first view, to rest on that foundation. 

The fallacy of all this reasoning is easily shown. We 
have only to ask, what is meant by the proposition, that "all 
men are created equal.'' Equal to what? — to whom? To 

"Political Justice, Book 8. chap. 0. 

tBurke's Letters on a Refficide Peace. Works, Vol. 4. p. 259, Boston ed. 
182C. ^ 

t Political Justice, Book 8. chap. C. 



9 

full grown men? Cadmus, we are told in ancient fable, 
sowed the earth with dragon's teeth, and there sprang 
up a crop of full grown men, ready armed for battle, who 
forthwith engaged in a war of extermination against each 
other. Every doctrine which ascribes to men a similar ori- 
ginal independence and equality, may be expected to end in 
similar results. The French revolution was an instance. 
But men are not thus born. They are born equal to other 
infants. They are born with an equal claim upon those 
that are older, for nourishment, protection, guidance, gov- 
ernment. They are born with an equal right to be brought 
up, to be educated, to be made fit for freedom. They are 
born with an equal claim on those who are older and wiser 
than themselves, for that government, that restraint and co- 
ercion, without which not one of them in twenty would ever 
live to be a man. They are born with an equal claim upon 
the state, for the enacting of such laws as shall secure these 
benefits to them ; as shall fit them for the enjoyment of free- 
dom and make them freemen. They have a claim for such 
laws as shall do this, in the most speedy and efl:ectual man- 
ner which the circumstances of society permit. 

It is not true that all children, throughout the whole earth, 
have a claim for the sa7ne laws and the same instruction. 
The child of an Esquimaux may not demand of his parents, 
the same education which is due to a child in Vermont ; for 
the parent cannot give it, and no one is bound to perform 
what is impossible. Esquimaux children, then, have no 
claim on the Esquimaux community, for laws requiring such 
an education ; but they have a claim on their parents and 
on the community, to do all that their circumstances render 
possible, towards fitting them for all the rights and privi- 
leges in that country ; and they have a right to such laws as 
shall secure to them the enjoyment of Esquimaux freedom, 
whenever they are fit for it. 

On this principle we practice. The state takes such 
measures as it judges necessary, to fit its children for the 
station of freemen. With these privileges, we expect them 
to be fit for that station at the age of twenty-one ; and from 
the necessity of having some general rule, and not because 
the number three times seven, has any magical power to con- 
fer "natural and unalienable rights," we enact that they shall 



10 

be free at that ago. If, however, one shows himself so man- 
ifestly unfit that he cannot be safely trusted with freedom, 
we put him under guardianship, or in the state prison, as 
the case may require. The correctness of this doctrine is 
so obvious, that I sliall spend no time in proving it. Let us 
consider the application of these principles to the greatest 
problem which our country has to solve. 

There are in the United States, two millions of slaves. 
What shall be done with them? Something miis^ be done. 
All principles of humanity, of justice, of our own free insti- 
tutions, imperiously demand it. We caimotbe willingly in- 
active, and yet be innocent. Buiiohat shall bovdone ? Give 
them their liberty. Yes, give them their liberty — is the re- 
sponse of every heart and every conscience. They are born 
with the same right to liberty as ourselves, and we must give 
it to them. We must confer it upon them as we do upon 
our own sons ; first make them fit for freedom, and then 
make them freemen. 

But, we are told, we have no right to wait till they are fit 
for freedom ; that they have a right to freedom now ; that 
" all men are created equal ; endowed with certain unalien- 
able rights, among which" is " liberty,'" the full enjoyment 
of which we have no riyht to withhold from them one mo- 
ment. So we are told, that in a perfect state of society, "it 
will no more be thought legitimate to make boys slaves, than 
to make men so ;" that children are "created equal ; endow- 
ed with certain unalienable rights, among which" is "liber- 
ty." — But, we are told, no human being is created subject 
to another; therefore the slaves may not be held in subjec- 
tion another hour. True, says some wayward child ; no hu- 
man being is created subject to another, and therefore I may 
not be held in subjection another hour. True, rejoins some 
one just come of age, I was not created subject to any man, 
or any two men, or any twenty millions of men, and I will 
not be in subjection to them a single hour, even though they 
call themselves the nation. — But we are told again, every 
human being has a riaht to his own limbs, and therefore to 
the fruits of his own lal)or, and no one has a right to lake it 
from him ; and the undutiful son adopts this argument too, 
and, as a human being, demands the control of his own 
limbs, and of his own earnings. And so of all arguments 



11 » 

for immediate emancipation, founded on the naked doctrine 
of the equal rights of all men. Give that doctrine such an 
interpretation that it will sustain that inference, and the same 
interpretation will sustain other inferences, at war with all 
government whatever. This is not the American interpreta- 
tion. It is that of French Jacobinism. Our fathers under- 
stood this doctrine, and guided by its light, they built up 
this republic — the joy and wonder of the world. The Jaco- 
bins misunderstood it ; and, misled by their own false the- 
ory, they deluged France in blood, and whelmed Europe 
in tears.* 

Indeed, the doctrine of immediate emancipation is so 
much at varialice with all the dictates of common sense, 
that even its most vociferous advocates at times shrink back 
from it, and talk as if it were not ea;ac% their doctrine. And 
in no case have statesmen been found, bold enough to apply 
it to large masses of men in bondage, without such qualifi- 
cations as essentially change the very nature of the act. 
Certain "Extracts from Clarkson's Thoughts" have lately 
been published at New York, to show, by historical facts, 
the safety of immediate emancipation. In the three first in- 
stances on which Clarkson relies, he acknowledges that the 
emancipated had something equivalent to "a preparatory 
school," which " fitted them by degrees for making a good 
use of their liberty." He adds, " I never stated that our 
West Indian slaves were to be emancipated suddenly, but 
by degrees. I always, on the other hand, took it for grant- 
ed, that they were to have their preparatory school a.\so.^^ 
Mr. Clarkson, then, was not acquainted with any example 
which would show the desirableness of "sudden" emancipa- 
tion. His fourth instance is that of recaptured negroes, ta- 
ken from slave ships and settled at Sierra Leone, under Brit- 
ish Colonial government ; a case on which he places little 
reliance in argument. 

The fifth instance is that of St. Domingo. According to 
Clarkson, difficulties had arisen on the question, whether 
blacks who were born free should enjoy a// rights of citizen- 
ship, equally with the whites. These difficulties led to "bat- 
tles, massacres and burnings," till it became necessary for 
the French Commissioners to issue a proclamation, in which 

*See note A. 



I'Z 

" they promised to give freedom to all blacks, who were 
willing to range themselves under the banners of the repub- 
lic" of France. The effect of this proclamation on the 
slaves was such that the Commissioners thought it "absolute- 
ly necessary, for the personal safety of the white planters," 
to extend the same privilege to all the slaves in the colony. 
A register was opened, in which the planters were urged to 
subscribe their assent to this proposition, and all but one 
complied. This proposal was made in September, 1793; 
and in February, 1794, the Directory passed a decree for the 
abolition of slavery in the Colonies. Now notice the condi- 
tions of this emancipation. 1. "The laborers were obliged 
to hire themselves to their masters, for not less than a year; 
at the end of which, but not before, they might quit the ser- 
vice and engage with others." 2. " They were to receive a 
third part of the produce of the estate, as a recompense for 
their labor." 3. After Toussaint, a negro, came into pow- 
er, about the end of 179G, he "took away from every mas- 
ter, the use of the whip, and of the chain, and of every oth- 
er instrument of correction, either by himself or his own 
order : he took away, in fact, all power of arbitrary punish- 
ment." He increased the term of service from one year to 
five years, and reduced the compensation from one third to 
one fourth of the produce. He "succeeded in making the 
black laborers return to the plantations, there to resume the 
drudgery of cultivation." Notice the words return and re- 
sume. It appears, then, that the negroes, after what is call- 
ed their emancipation, were obliged to work for the plant- 
ers, at first without the privilege of choosing their masters, 
and always at a price fixed by others, and till the time of 
Toussaint, were liable to be driven to their labors by the 
whip or some "other instrument of punishment," applied 
at the discretion of their employers; and the result was 
such, that Toussaint was thought to do wonders, when he 
made them return to the plantations and resume their 
"drudgery." Does this prove "the safety, practicability, 
and expediency of immediate emancipation ?" And do those 
among us, who advocate immediate emancipation, mean 
that our slaves should immediately be put into the condition 
just described ? 



13 

The sixth case mentioned by Clarkson is that of the slaves 
in Colombia, South America, where a decree was passed 
July 19, 1821, giving freedom to all slaves who had served 
in the armies of the republic, and providing that all born 
after the date of the decree should be free at the age of 18. 
This is gradual emancipation, again, on the same principle 
adopted in New York. 

The last case mentioned by Clarkson, is that of Hon. 
Joshua Steele, of Barbadoes, of which he says, " It took 
him six years, to bring his negroes to the state of vassalage 
described, or to that state from whence he was sure that 
they might be transferred without danger, in no distant time, 
to the rank of free men, if it should be thought desirable." 
"Immediate abolition," truly ! 

Others have adduced the example of Mexicqj, In this in- 
stance, the slaves were all declared free at once, but were 
considered as in debt to their former masters, to the amount 
of the money for which they might have been sold before 
emancipation ; and they were obliged to remain on the plan- 
tations and labor as formerly, till they had paid that debt by 
their labor ; and a police system was established to enforce 
this regulation. The amount of it was, the law secured to 
them the privilege of buying their freedom, which they gen- 
erally accomplished in the course of twelve years. 

So far, then, not a single instance is found, of the " im- 
mediate emancipation" of all the slaves of any country. In 
every instance brought forward by the advocates of that 
doctrine, they were emancipated, not " suddenly," but by 
" degrees," as Mr. Clarkson maintains they ought to be. Ev- 
en now, in England, a strong eftbrt has been made to pro- 
cure " immediate emancipation." They must all be made 
free in a moment; but, according to the bill which the 
friends of that measure have carried through Parliament, 
that moment is to be several years long. Why is this? 
Emancipation, we are told, ought not to be gradual. The 
demands of justice require that it be done " instanter." 
Accordingly, a bill is brought in, which enacts that it shall 
be done in twelve years. If gentlemen mean, emancipation 
in twelve years, why do they not say so ? Why agitate the 
country, by calling it " immediate?" And why compel us to 
understand them literally, by using arguments which, if they 



14 

proved any thing, would provfe that it ought to be, strictly, 
immediate ?* • 

Indeed, it does not seem that any body seriously means to 
practice on the theory of immediate emancipation. It is 
used merely for the sake of producing excitement. The 
Jacobinical argument is the shortest, and most exciting to 
shallow thinkers, of any yet invented. It proves, however, 
if it proves any thing, that slaves ought to be emancipated, — 
as Clarkson says they ought not, — " suddenly," and without 
any " preparatory school." And itproves, with equal force, 
that all slaves, and all women, and all children, should at 
once take part, equally with others, in the civil government 
of the country. And then it proves, that if any of them 
choose not to obey the laws of that government, they have 
an "unalienq|)le right" to set them at defiance. f 

This will not do. Instead of this, we must deal with them 
as with our own children. We must educate them for free- 
dom, and then make them freemen. We have no more 
right to neglect this, or to delay it needlessly, than in the 
case of our own children. By the dispensations of Provir 
dence, and in part, at least, by our own acts, they are made 
dependent upon us; they are in our power; they can re- 
ceive this boon at our hands ; and it can come to them from 
no other source. We have, therefore, no right to neglect or 
del.'iy the bestowment of it. The hearty adoption of this 
doctrine, as true, as binding upon us, as what we must and 
will practise upon, is our first duty ; and when we have done 
ihis, all else will inevitably follow in due season. 

Is it objected, that educating them is dangerous, because 
ability to read and write will give them dangerous facili- 
ties for planning and executing insurrections.'' We ask 
in reply, what is the education, indispensable to fit one for 
freedom? Is it ability to read and write ? Do we not know 
that hundreds possess this ability, who are not fit for free- 
dom after all, and who, for that reason, are shut up within 
the walls of the penitentiary ? Do we not know that other 
hundreds, who have never learned these arts, are trust wor- 
tliy, and e.vercise the rights and perform the duties of citi- 
zenship safely and profitably to themselves and the country ? 

*Mr. Garrison denounces the bill for abolishinsj slavery in the West In- 
dies, as a " triumph of Gradualism." tSec note B. 



15 

How is a man the better for being able to read, if he never 
reads any thing ? Of what use is this ability, except as a 
means of acquiring valuable ideas, and establishing himself 
in good principles ? Can ideas and principles be obtained in 
no other way but by reading? Can you not understand a 
book, unless you read it yourself; or a conversation, unless it 
be written down, and put into your hands on paper? The 
art of reading, we know, wonderfully increases the facility 
with which we may fit ourselves for the performance of du- 
ty ; but it is possible to become safe citizens without it. We 
therefore pass no sentence, either of condemnation or ap- 
proval, on those who withhold this art from their slaves. We 
only say, they must be educated. You must educate them. 
Take your own way to do it. If you find it safe to put books 
into their hands, it will diminish your labor immensely. If 
not, you must do it, nevertheless. The labor of educating 
them without books will be immense ; but, books or no books, 
it must be done ; and if books are unsafe instruments, you 
must work the harder. You must furnish them with such 
ideas of the ends and objects of human life, and of the du- 
ties of man to his fellow man, and establish in their minds 
such principles for the government of their own conduct, 
as will make them safe citizens. You must* do it, for the 
same reasons which binds you to do it for your own chil- 
dren ; — because they are human beings, who have a right to 
receive this discipline from some one who is able to bestow 
it ; and your God, who is also their God, has put that abili- 
ty into your hands, and into yours alone. 

Is it said that this principle is inefficient — that it can nev- 
er accomplish the object ? We deny it. It is powerful. It 
can do all that needs to be done. Just look for a moment 
at its operation. Let the planters, generally, teach their 
slaves to revere God. Will they themselves be profane ? 
In some instances, they doubtless will ; but on the great 
scale, the instruction they give will be found to react on 
those who give it, so that they will more generally ob- 
serve the dictates of conscience. The very fact that the 
planter brings duty so distinctly before his own mind as he 
must do in order to teach it, will make him more observant 
of it. The fact that he looks up and uses arguments for 
the observance of duty, will make him' feel more strongly 



16 

that lie ought to observe it. — Let all planters teach the 
Christian duty of governing the passions. Can such gen- 
eral and perpetual familiarity with truth on this subject fail 
to promote self government in those who teach it? — Let all 
planters teach their slaves the Christian duty of observing 
the seventh commandment. Let them teach the sacredness 
of the marriage relation. Let them make their slaves fully 
understand why that covenant should always be kept invio- 
late. I omit other questions, and only ask, will not these 
teachers be careful how they break up families by sellin"^ 
their members.^ Will they, by selling the husband here and 
the wife there, almost force them upon transgression ? Will 
not marriage and domestic relations become practical, per- 
manent blessings, and begin to put forth among them all 
those holy influences for which God has appointed them .'' 
— Let the planters all teach their slaves to be just; to regard 
as they ought, the rights of their fellow men, and to render 
to every one his due ; and will not a conscientious render- 
ing to their slaves their due increase among the planters 
themselves ? — Let them teach these things, because they re- 
gard their slaves, not as mere property, but as human beings, 
who have a right to be prepared by such teaching for the 
enjoyment of freedom, and then to be free ; and let them 
do it for the sake of preparing them for freedom, that they 
may be made free ; and can the evils of slavery long en- 
dure .'' We see plainly that they cannot. Before such a 
course, before such a spirit, every obstacle to its entire re- 
moval must give way, and its last remnants must be speedi- 
ly and safely removed. 

Some one may say, this would do, if it were in operation ; 
but you cannot start it. We do not wish to start it. It is 
already in operation. Read the " Journal of a Missionary 
to the Negroes in the State of Georgia," which has of 
late been extensively published in our religious papers. 
This Missionary is a slave holder. He is devoting his 
time, his wealth, his life, to the work of promoting among 
tl.e slaves, that godliness, which "is jirofitablc to all things, 
having the promise of the life that now is, and of that 
which is to come." There are other slave holders, men of 
wealth, of talent, of learning, who have consecrated them- 
selves to this work. Planters are numerous, who welcome 



17 

these men to their plantations, and assemble their slaves to 
be instructed by them, and to unite with them in the wor- 
ship of God. Extensive associations of planters are form- 
ed, for the purpose of giving system and energy to these 
operations. The late revivals of religion in the southern 
states have produced a mighty influence in this direction ; 
an influence of which, at the south, few are ignorant, and 
the existence of which none dispute. You may learn the 
fact from their political newspapers even. Men there are 
beginning to feel extensively, that the doctrine of our text is 
true ; that God " hath made of one blood all nations of 
men, — that they should seek the Lord ;" — that he has given 
them one common nature, and one common gospel, to which 
all ought to have access. They are beginning, more and 
more, to act on this principle ; and it will have the same ef- 
fect which it had when Paul preached it and men embraced 
it at Athens and at Rome'; — it will abolish slavery. If slave 
laws remain as they are, it will render them inoperative, for 
it will remove all occasion for the use of them. If laws 
need to be altered, it will alter them. It will prove the wis- 
dom of God and the power of God unto salvation, not only 
to the individuals who receive it, but to the community 
which it pervades.* 

Some may object, that the removal of slavery on this prin- 
ciple, though certain in the end, is too distant to content usj 
that these' operations reach but a small part of our slave 
holding territory ; that we need something which shall ap- 
peal to every citizen, and especially to every slave holder, 
in the United States; something which shall present the ne- 
gro race before us, not only as moral agents, capable of sal- 
vation, but as capable of being fitted for citizenship; as 
having a claim upon us to fit them for it and bestow it upon 
them : something too, the execution of which does not whol- 
ly depend on the slave holders themselves ; something in 
which all the citizens of the Union can engage, and thus 
bear their testimony to the truth which makes men free. 

There is some force in these objections. They show ♦'-e 
need of just such an enterprise as we are now assembled to 
promote. What is the American Colonization Society do- 
ing? It is laboring to build up a civilized, well governed na- 

*See Note C. 



18 

tion of free colored people. The very endeavor is proof, that 
we consider the existence of such a nation possible ; that 
we regard negroes as beings out of whom such a nation can 
be built. Every step taken in this etiterprize proceeds on 
the ground that negroes can be made, and ought to be made, 
and we desire to make them, free citizens of a free country. 
On this ground I rest the defence of the society, and its 
claims to your support. I omit numerous topics of argu- 
ment which might be used, and with which you are already 
familiar. I stay not to dally with objections which do not 
touch this point. I ask not whether, in forming and execu- 
ting its plans, the men, mere men, who compose it, have 
shown wisdom absolutely infinite, and infinite watchfulness 
against mistakes. I shall not try to do the work of the day 
of judgement beforehand, by inquiring whether two or 
three or more of tthem may not have certain hy ends of their 
own to answer by it. 1 shall not inquire whether some of 
its members entertain, at the same time, the two opposite 
designs of removing all the slaves from the country, and of 
making their slavery perpetual in it. I shall not argue the 
question whether all vice, or any vice, is more thoroughly 
excluded from Monrovia, than from any village in the Uni- 
ted States ; or whether the administration of government in 
that colony is more perfect than it ever has been, or, till the 
millennium at least, ever will be, in any other community 
on earth. If any maintain that both the Managers of the 
Society and the Colonists are, after all, mere men, and that, 
by diligent search, such errors as men are liable to, may be 
found among them, I shall not dispute it; and if any one 
shall say that some of its enemies are capable of exaggera- 
tion, and others of falsehood, I shall not dispute that. I 
leave all such questions to those who have leisure for them. 
I point you to Liberia. There it stands, upon the coast of 
Africa, a monument of the truth, that negroes, and even ne- 
gro slaves, can be made, and ought to be made, and we desire 
to make them, free citizensof a free community. By its very 
existence, it testifies this truth to all that pass by in ships ; 
to all who consider where ships shall be sent; to all who 
consider, in what seas ships must be defended. It stands, or 
soon will stand, an intelligible monument of this truth, on 
the map of Africa, in the hands of every child who studies 



19 

geography in any school on earth. Can this universal 
testimony, thus forced perpetually upon the notice of all 
men, fail to produce an effect ? 

The Society appeals directly and personally to every cit- 
izen of the United States, and of course to every slave hold- 
er in the United States. It asks him to bestow his aid, and 
by bestowing his aid in removing slaves who are manumit- 
ted for this purpose, to bear his testimony to the truth, that 
negroes, negro slaves even, can be made, and ought to be 
made, and he desires to make them, free citizens of a free 
community. It asks him to bear this testimony by acting on 
this principle ; — by doing what would be the veriest and 
most manifest folly imaginable, on any other principle. Can 
this appeal be thus universally and perpetually made, and 
especially, can slave holders generally comply with it, with- 
out strengthening the principles by which slavery will be re- 
moved ?* 

The Society appeals to you this night. As you have been 
officially informed, hundreds of slaves are waiting for free- 
dom, only till the Society shall be enabled to colonize them. 
Only furnish the means, and they will be made free citizens 
of a free community. Show, then, by your deeds, how 
much confidence you have in the capacity of slaves to re- 
ceive and enjoy the blessings of freedom, and how ardently 
you desire that it may be conferred upon them. The influ- 
ence of what you shall do will not expire with the doing of 
the deed, or be limited to the direct recipients of your boun- 
ty. What you do will be matter of record. It will go 
abroad. It will be published to the ends of the land and 
of the earth. It will tell on public sentiment. In propor- 
tion as it shall show that you are in earnest, it will swell and 
strengthen the tide of right feeling, which is to sweep 
slavery from our land and from the world. 

*See note D. 



NOTES. 



NOTE A. Page 11. 
Since this discourse was delivered, 1 have obtained a copy of Condorcet's 
•'Historical View," from which a few passages are selected, bearing direct- 
ly on this point. 

I. The foundation of the doctrine. " Writers on politics and the law of nations at 
lengtii arrived at the knowledge of the true rights of man, which they deduce from this 
simple principle : that he is a being' endowed with sensation, capable of reasoning upon and 
understanding his interests, and of acquiring moral ideas." Page 154. Baltimore edition. 

Here, we see, the principle that a man is a member of the human family, 
connected with the other members by various relations, and therefore inca- 
pable of having any rights inconsistent with those relations, is wholly over- 
looked. 

II. What some of these rights are. " Hence it appears to be one of the rights of man," 
— i. e. of every " being endowed with sensation" &c.; of course, according to Condor- 
cet, of every woman and every cliild, — " that he should employ his faculties, dispose of 
his wealth, and provide for his wants, in whatever manner he shall think best." lb. p. 158. 

III. That this doctrine caused the French Revolution. " By comparing the disposition of 
the public mind, which 1 have already sketched, with the prevailing systems of govern- 
ment, we shall perceive, without difficulty, that an important revolution was inevitable, 
and that tliere were two ways only in which it could take place : either the people thera- 
eelves would establish a system of policy upon those principles of nature and reason, 
which philosophy had rendered so dear to their hearts, or government might hasten to 
supersede this event, by reforming its vices, and governing its conduct by the public opin- 
ion. — The corruption and ignorance of the rulers of nations have preferred, it seems, the 
lormer of these modes ; and the sudden trmmph of reason and liberty has avenged the 
human race." U. p. 173. 

IV. The French doctrine of the rights of man different from the .American. " If we ex- 
amine the nature of these constitutions, [those of the American States] we shall discover 

why an identity of interests, rather than an equality of rights, is adopted as their 

principle." lb. p. 175. 

" It would be easy to show how much more pure, accurate, and profound, are the prin- 
ciples upon which the constitution and laws of France have been formed, than those 
which directed the Americans : and how much more completely the authors have with- 
drawn themselves from the influence of a variety of prejudices ; that the great basis of 
policy, the equality of rights, has never been superseded by that fictions identity of in- 
terests, which has so often been made its feeble and hypocritical substitute ; that lim- 
its prescribed to political power have been put in the place of that specious balance which 
has so long been admired ; that we were the first to dare, in a great nation necessarily 
dispersed, and which cannot personally be assembled but in broken and numerous parcels, 
to maintain in the people their rigtits of sovereignty, the right of obeying no laws but 
those which, though originating in a representative authority, shall have received their 
last sanction from the nation itself; laws which, if found to be injurious to its riglits or 
interests, the nation is always organized to reform by a regular act of its sovereign will." 
lb. p. 17S. 

This last extract shows, not only that the French and American doctrines 
of the rights of man are different, but that this difference of doctrines led to 
differences in the forms of government in the two nations. Had Condorcet 



22 

lived a few years longer, he might have noticed other differences in the 

practical results of the two doctrines, in which he would have gloried less. 

What Condorcet protests against, under the name of " identity of inter- 
ests," is probably an implied recognition of the nature of man, as a member 
of human society, having an interest in whatever interests the other mem- 
bers, and not as a mere individual "being, endowed with sensation," &c. 
The expression is not very lucid ; and I do not quote the passage as a lesson 
in metaphysics, but as the testimony of a man, whose speculations did much 
to give to the French revolution its peculiar character. 

That the French revolutionary doctrine of the Rights of Man was differ- 
ent from the American, and that the French legislators knew it to be differ- 
ent, is further proved by the following statement. 

The national assembly was busily occupied in foiinin? different parts of the new con- 
stitution, and particularly in framing their celebrated declaration of the rights of men 
and of citizens. On this last subject the assembly seemed greatly to bewilder themselves 
in abstract questions and metaphysical disquisitions. LaFayelte, whose principles were 
truly and entirely American, brought forward a declaration, which was little more or less 
than an epitome of all those that had been adopted by the different members of the Uni- 
ted States. This might possibly have been so far received as to become in some degree 
a sort of ground-work to iheir own, if the abbe Sieyes liad not composed an abstract and 
difficult work, in which he defined and traced the riglits of man to their first principles. 
Though the abbe's friends and admirers were unsuccessful in their support of this produc- 
tion, tliey, however, procured the overthrow of La Fayette's system.— iondoji ^n/juai 
Register, Vol. 32, p. 30. 



NOTE B. Page 14. 

From the Declaration of Rights, prefixed to the French Constitution of 
September, 1791. 

I, All men are born, and remain, free and equal in rights. 

VI. The law is thee.xpression ot the general will : all the citizens have s right to con- 
cur persimally, or by their representatives, to the formation of the law. 

XIV. Every citizen has aright, by himself, or his representatives, tn decide concerning 
the necessity of the public contribution ; to consent to it freely, to look after the employ- 
ment of it ; to determine the quantity, the distribution, the collection, and duration. 

London Annual HeijUter, Vol. 33, p. 150*. 

Comment. Crowds of "beings endowed witli sensation, capable of under- 
standing their interests" much better than they did, and '• of acquiring 
moral ideas" with whicii they showed little acquaintance, believing tliattliey 
" were born" and " remained equal in rights" to the members of the National 
Assembly, often took upon themselves to give " expressions of the general 
will" " personally," and not " by their representatives," as when the Pari- 
sian mob brought the king from Versailles ; and at otiier times similar mobs 
gave "expressions of the general will" through " their representatives," — 
overawing the National Assembl}' by their presence and violence. 

The state papers of that revolution cannot be understood as the people of 
France understood them, without going to Rousseau, Condorcet, &c, for the 
definition of their terms. 



NOTE C. Page 17. 

If it be conceded that slaves are not a part of those for whom Christ died, 
and do not need to be saved, as we do, " by the foolishness of preaching," 
then it will be impossible to prove that they have any more " rights" thait 



23 

any other animals for which Christ did not die, or that they have any more 
claim to any emancipation at all, either immediate or remote, than our oxen 
and horses have. But if they are a part of the human race ; if the Savior 
did indeed shed his blood lor them as well as for us; if faith in that gospel 
of his grace, which they cannot '• believe" till they ■' hear" it, be necessa- 
ry to save them from eternal perdition and capable of raising them to per- 
fectand endless felicity ; and if, like other men, they are not immortal, but 
are actually dying — going into the eternal world, whether prepared or 
not, every day and every hour ; then certainly it becomes us to lose no time 
in sending them the gospel. They need the gospel more than all things 
else ; as much more, as hell is worse than their present condition, as heaven 
is belter than the condition of a free negro in the United States, and as eter- 
nity is longer than human life. Give them, then, the gospel. Let those 
who can, encourage and aid and sustain the preachers. Let those who can, 
whether from the pulpit, the press, or in any other way, urge upon planters, 
the duty of having the gospel preached to them. And let those who can do 
nothing else, if any such there be, pray that it may be preached to them. 
Let Christians, at the north and at the south, give to tliis object, the conver- 
sion of the slaves to Christ, the prominence of which it is worthy ; let them 
think of it, and pray for it, and, as they can find opportunity, labor for it, in 
proportion to its worth, and as the Spirit of Christ dictates, and they will be 
converted; their masters will labor for their conversion, and for their com- 
plete sanctification, and God will bless their labors, and the work will be 
done. 

Now we ask, is it wise, is it kind, is it Christian, to neglect this great ob- 
ject, and to expend all our strength and all our zeal, and endeavor to make 
all others e.xpend all their strength and their zeal, on an object which, how- 
ever important, is infinitely less important to the negroes than this .' Or, if 
attention to this object be not wholly omitted, is it wise, or kind, or Chris- 
tian, to draw off the attention of the fi-iends of the negroes from it, by mak- 
ing any other object more prominent .'' Would Paul have done it .^ Would 
Christ .' Should you do it, and do it successfully ; and should the result be, 
that all the slaves in the nation should be emancipated, and that thousands 
should die in their sins, who, but for the direction which you gave to the 
public mind, might have been saved, — do you think you should rejoice in it, 
when standing with them before the judgement seat of Christ ? 

If you say, your object is to bring the whites to repentance for the sin of 
suffering them to remain in civil bondage ; I ask, is it right to do this, by 
withdrawing their minds from the still greater sin of suffering them to re- 
main in bondage to Satan .■' 

If it be said that we must procure their release from civil bondage, before 
the gospel can be successfully preached to them ; what is this, but to dispar- 
age the gospel of Christ, as an insufficient remedy for the miseries of the 
human race, — as not adapted to the wants of men, in seme of the circum- 
stances in which they may be placed .'' 

Is it not plain that men who take such a course, are not as they should 
be ; — that they have given to the temporal an ascendency over the spiritual 
in their own minds, for which they ought to be penitent .' And when we re- 
member that the right course would bring to those now in slavery, inevita- 
bly, safely, and pleasantly to all concerned, all the temporal benefits which 
these men are endeavoring in vain to secure to them by the wrong course, 
— is not the imperfection of their wisdom as manifest as the imperfection of 
their piety .■" — I mean exactly what I say. 1 have no doubt that many of 
them possess both wisdom and piety ; but bolh are imperfect, and here is a 
striking instance of their imperfection. 



24 

NOTE D. Page 19, 

At a meeting of the Board of Manager3 of the Maryland State Colonization Society, 
held April 30, 1833, at the Colonization office, the following preamble and resolution were 
read, discussed, amended, and adopted unanimously. 

Whereas It is the desire of the Maryland Stale Colonization Society, to hasten as far as 
they can, the arrival of the period when slavery shall cease to exist in Maryland ; and 
whereas the society believe that this can best be done, by advocating and assisting the 
cause of colonization, which is considered as the safest, the truest, and the most efficient 
auxiliary of freedom, under existing circumstances ; and whereas the cause of coloniza- 
tion, which has already produced great results, and from which so much is still anticipa- 
ted, must depend in Maryland, upon the facilities afforded for the transportation and re- 
ception of emigrants on the coast of Africa, which can only be secured, to the necessary 
and desired extent, by the establishment of settlements in Africa, where there will be no 
restraint upon emigration beyond the control of the state society ; and whereas it is be- 
lieved, for these and other reasons, to he expedient for the state society, to form at this 
lime, a new settlement on the coast of Africa ; and whereas it has been represented to 
the society, that Cape Palmas and its neighborhood ofi'er commercial and agricultural fa- 
cilities of the most important character, so as to make a settlement there desirable in ev- 
ery point of view ; and whereas it is believed that a settlement thus formed, by a society, 
whose avowed object is the ultimate extirpation of slavery, by proper and gradual efforts, 
addressed to the understanding and experience of the people of the state, would be view- 
ed with peculiar interest by all those who advocate colonization on account of its ten- 
dencies toward liberty, and would receive that aid from them, which would ensure its 
prosperity and happiness ; and whereas the society believe, that it is proper to use every 
means in their power to raise Maryland to th^ rank of a free state of this union, not only 
on account of the immediate benefit to herself, but for the sake of the illustration which 
she would then furnish of the elTect of colonization in removing slavery ; 

Therefore, he it resoh-ed, That this society will forthwith establish a settlement, at a 
suitable p(unt on the coast of Africa, and will take immediate measures to procure, both 
within and witliout the state, the necessary pecuniary aid. 

This autumn, the Maryland State Colonization Society, in conformity 
with these resolutions, has fitted out an expedition of about 100 emigrants, 
who are to commence a settlement at Cape Palmas as soon as the necessary 
arrangements can be made. During the negotiations for this purpose, they 
will remain at Liberia. Ardent spirits are to be e.xcluded from the Colony 
by law, as well as by a pledge, which every emigrant is required to give be- 
fore his departure. 

Those who maintain that Colonization is designed, and that it operates, 
to perpetuate slavery in this country, may find it difficult to reconcile these 
facts with their assertions. 



lEtla'l2 



